Electrical wire and cable may be shipped from a manufacturer to a job site wound on a reel for payoff during installation. Bulky cable, such as large gauge and/or long lengths of copper or aluminum conductors used for underground or overhead electrical transmission, may be shipped on oversized, heavy-duty steel reels. The steel reels may be as large 12 feet in diameter and 8 feet wide in order to hold the length and weight of the cable wound on the reel. In addition, the steel reels are reusable, and are traditionally shipped back to the manufacturer once installation of the cable is complete.
Because of the weight and size of a loaded, over-sized steel reel, usually only one reel may be transported per truck from the manufacturer to the job site. Because of the diameter of the reel, transport of the reel to the job site may further require a specialized vehicle, such as a “lowboy” flatbed trailer. However, once the cable is unloaded from the reel, the dimensions and volume of the empty steel reel may still result in only one or two empty reels being returned to the manufacturer per lowboy trailer. For example, a job requiring 40 such reels of cable would require 40 lowboy trucks for transport of the cable to the jobsite, and 20 or more trucks to return the steel reels to the manufacturer, increasing the cost of transportation of the cable and return of the empty reels.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the disclosure made herein is presented.